PCS to Corporate America

Internships vs. Recruiting Firms. What’s Right for You? (Part 2) We recently hosted a roundtable discussion, covering the topics of choosing to engage in an internship vs. utilizing a recruiting firm on the podcast . Joel and Pete listed the pros and cons of each, as well as detailed what options might be right for you . We’d recommend listening to that episode before tuning into “part...

Recruiting Firms vs. Internships. What’s Right for You? Today we wanted to discuss a hot topic as of late: internships. Traditionally, there were just a couple of avenues in which an officer could initiate and facilitate their transitions (like personal networking, recruiting firms, transition assistance classes, etc.). Now we’ve started to see and hear more about different military in...

Welcome back to Part 2 of the conversation that Cameron-Brooks Senior Vice President, Joel Junker had with alumni Melodie Nye, Carl Case and Mike DeBock. In this episode, we hear more from our alumni around the area of work/life balance. Joel specifically leads the discussion around: What are your personal hacks/habits for self-development?  We go through valleys or slumps where we are at risk of...

Welcome back! We recently surveyed our alumni, asking about topics for our annual virtual leadership panel. We cover a variety of leadership topics during these panels, but the two most popular topics centered around career management and work/life balance .   We have a special 2-episode podcast series featuring three great alumni stretching back all the way back to 2004.  Melodie Nye is a former...

Welcome back to a special episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast! During this discussion, our CEO, Chuck Alvarez, and Senior Vice President, Joel Junker, sit down to review the year that was 2021 and forecast trends for 2022. Reflecting on the last 12 months, we’ve all continued to navigate a virtual world and live with continual ambiguity. However, one thing is for certain: this past year ke...

Welcome back to another installment of our Conference Alumni Series. On this episode we hear from 4 recent Cameron-Brooks alumni who attended the November 2021 Career Conference share their conference experience. We really like bringing these conversations to you. It is one of our attempts to try and remove uncertainty from the transition process and ultimately give you confidence through this pro...

Today on the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we’re tackling a NEW topic that can be half of the equation when officers consider making a transition. SIGNIFICANT OTHERS. We’re always believed that significant others make a SIGNIFICANT difference in the transition decision and process. And, at Cameron-Brooks, we like to ENCOURAGE involvement from significant others from the very beginning. It&#8...

We speak with thousands of military officers every year about making a transition, and we’ve picked up on a couple of patterns. Our ultimate goal at Cameron-Brooks is to help ensure the long-term success of our candidates and our client companies. We’ve found that military officers who really set themselves up for success avoid this one thing when making their transition. The career do...

What do business leaders have in common? They read. For the first 20 years of my life, I was not a reader.  I paid the price.  My verbal, reading and writing standardized test scores were average.  This was an indicator that I was missing out on a whole world of development and education out there.  Not until my spring break as a sophomore in college did I start reading.  I picked up a novel by Jo...

When I ask officers in the military what they are looking to do when they get out of the military, I often hear something like, “I want to do something I am passionate about.” When I follow up with a question, “Like what?” I typically don’t hear a clear and specific answer. I think I know why. When a leader really examines what they are passionate about it’s NOT...

Welcome back for a special episode! Rob Davis, Transition Coach, interviewed 5 recent alumni of the August 2021 Career Conference for our post-August 2021 Conference review webcast. At the time of the interview, all alumni guests had already accepted an offer for employment. We really enjoy doing this type of episode because it gives those who are planning to attend a future Career Conference (or...

Twenty years ago, Matt Beliveau transition from an Army Officer to a Human Resource Specialist at General Mills .  Today, he is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Sarah Lee Frozen Bakery .  To thank all of those who helped him along the way, Matt wrote the following post on LinkedIn .  It is definitely worth 3 minutes of your time to read. After reading his post, I reached out and invited Matt t...

Welcome back to the Cameron-Brooks podcast! I am excited to bring this particular episode to you, because we have the pleasure of bringing back Chuck Alvarez , Cameron-Brooks CEO. Chuck has been with Cameron-Brooks for over 25 years, the last 9 of which has been at the head of the organization. He has personally helped over 2,500 JMOs move from the military to Corporate America, so he brings a wea...

Stuck in a rut?  Feel like you are on a professional plateau and not sure where you are going?  Wonder if you are “traveling” on the right personal or professional path?  Do you have clarity on your goals? If you have or are asking yourself these questions, good.  That means you are human and you want grow and develop.  I mean, if you didn’t have these questions, you would probab...

So, you’re thinking about making a transition. But where do you start? Which strategies should you focus on first? We live in the information age. Every generation after us will have more information and faster access than ever before. Which also means the amount of information out there can be overwhelming. Imagine walking into the Library of Congress. You have over 170 million items to cho...

So, here we are – July 2021. Is the economy back?  Well, there are probably way too many factors at play to truly allow that to be a binary YES or NO, BUT at the Cameron-Brooks June 2021 Career Conference , the average number of interviews per JMO was 13. You read that right. The average number of interviews that officers had was 13 interviews with industry-leading companies who attended the...

Problem solving and project management are closely related, but they are not exactly the same.  Personally, I differentiate them this way: Problem: I am getting one result when I am expecting or need a different one. Project: I like quality guru, J.M. Juran’s, definition “a problem that has been scheduled for a solution.” This podcast is not about how to solve problems or manage projects but...

Welcome back! I am excited to bring you my conversation with Cameron-Brooks alumnus, author, business leader and all-around good guy, CORY BOUCK ! Our conversation weaves in and out of how Cory’s military experience has impacted his business career, how he’s propeled himself into greater levels of success, leadership, and career progression advice/observations (i.e. does your career ne...

What are the most common resume writing mistakes and how can you avoid them? Cameron-Brooks is a professional services firm and resume writing and consultancy falls under the term “services”. It’s actually one of the key steps before attending a Conference. We review hundreds of resumes, helping each of our candidates craft the perfect document. On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we si...

Are you still in the military and either anticipating attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference or considering if a partnership with Cameron-Brooks is worth your while? If so, you’ve landed on the right podcast! In this episode, Joel interviews 4 recent alumni who attended the April 2021 Career Conference. Here is their background: Jeanece Kelly: CAPT, Air Force Force Support David Addams...

Welcome back to PART 2 of our Frequently Asked Questions conversation! We covered the first set of FAQs on podcast episode 121 .  Our goal for these episodes is to help officers who are considering a transition (or who are curious) learn more about Cameron-Brooks as a transition resource. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) we cover: Timing – when should you start? What’s normal? As we d...

Welcome back to another addition of the podcast! Many of the people who have chosen to partner with Cameron-Brooks already know much about our model – who we are, what we do, how we do it and our relationship with the companies who come to us seeking to hire Junior Military Officers. That said, even people who know a lot about who we are had to start somewhere. That start is usually defined...

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we continue our series of interview tips to help elevate your interview game. Of course the ultimate goal in moving from the military to Corporate America is to chose the best opportunity amongst many and avoid any early career “do-overs.” More on that HERE and HERE and HERE ! For now, here are the three most common reasons t...

I am frequently asked, “How do I answer the interview question, ‘What are your short- and long-term goals?’ when I’m not sure what I want to do for a career in business right now?” Over the past few years, we’ve written a couple of blog posts on this topic.  One of the comprehensive posts was “Tips on Answering ‘What Are Your Short and Long Term Goals?'” in May of 201...

Welcome back! This is the continuation of our conversation with Cameron-Brooks President and CEO, Chuck Alvarez all stemming from Episode 114 . In that podcast, Chuck took a look back at 2020 and a look forward to 2021. From that conversation, he further defined the JMO “transition” in Episode 116 and is back to talk more about comparing options in the process. Chuck has personally hel...